A Punk Rock Rebel Returns to Church

Christianity Today ^ | 10/20/17 | Lily Burana

[SoFloFreeper]

I was parked between “spiritual but not religious” and “New Age dilettante” when depression threw me into God’s arms.

.... as a small child, I suffered bouts of depression salted with anxiety before I even knew what the words meant. From toddlerhood on, insomnia overtook me as I tried rocking myself to sleep. I didn’t want to get up in the morning. I wouldn’t brush my hair. I didn’t want to go to school.

But I did go to church. Until I didn’t.

I’m a cradle Christian, raised on Sunday school classes with picture books of Moses bobbing in the basket in the reeds and Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in the straw-dusted manger. Christmas Eve meant candlelight services, and the rest of the year was punctuated with youth group performances of schlocky Jesus-pop musicals. I attended Bible study after school, and in the summer our teacher toted us to rallies where I’d win scoops of candy for correctly reciting Scripture verses.

[SoFloFreeper]

So I was thinking of subscribing to CT, thought it might be good to read some solid evangelical think pieces. World Magazine is good for current events and some other stuff, but CT was too...(to be continued)

[SoFloFreeper]

So I am perusing the CT site, and I see this article by Lily Burana. Interesting enough...a charming story of God’s grace and how He brought her from a bad place to a better.

We all need redemption, right? Me too.

Then, I decided to check this girl out on the interwebs.

And I looked at her twitter feed...(to be continued)

[SoFloFreeper]

This Christian author, published with the approval of Christianity Today, seems to be celebrating the denigration of Biblical marriage...publicly on the internet.

I know re-tweets don't necessarily mean endorsement. But how would YOU read this?

So, for those of you who are believers...is this the kind of stuff Christianity Today ENDORSES now? I thought Billy Graham started or was involved with the beginnings of Christianity Today magazine.

Help me out here.

Are the media arms of evangelical Protestantism now giving PLATFORMS to those who celebrate things that are blatantly anti-Bible?!

[SoFloFreeper]

GC, any chance of getting feedback on this from your ping list? Not strictly Reformation theology, but I’d like to have opinions.

Put this up yesterday and the thread kind of died.

[Gamecock]

GC, any chance of getting feedback on this from your ping list? Not strictly Reformation theology, but I’d like to have opinions.

What says the group?

[.45 Long Colt]

I subscribed to CT for years, but I dumped it about 15 years ago. It wasn’t just the Arminian theology that I disagreed with, it was the liberalism. I don’t follow it regularly at all, but I occasionally check their blog and am under the impression it has only gotten worse. It seems they appeal to the snowflake, feminist, and SJW crowd on the liberal edge of evangelicalism.

By way of reference, I was raised in a conservative Southern Baptist congregation and am now part of a Reformed Baptist congregation.

[SoFloFreeper]

i have also moved into Reformation theology over the years. Sad to see. I mean, I know CT always had a bit of a more lib bent...I remember some Jimmy Carter stories they did back in the late 70s/early 80s where Reinhold Niebuhr was spoken of in glowing terms, though not necessarily endorsed.

But I was really dismayed to see this article published by a CT from a claimed believer who then goes on to appear to endorse such anti-biblical actions.

[SoFloFreeper]

thanks! :)

[Lee N. Field]

So I was thinking of subscribing to CT,

I haven't seen a copy in maybe a decade, or more. Do they even still have a printed magazine?

[Lee N. Field]

GC, any chance of getting feedback on this from your ping list? Not strictly Reformation theology, but I’d like to have opinions.

What says the group? --GC

I'll play.

Meanwhile, the darkness within kept creeping. Way back in second grade, an upsetting session with a school psychologist had given me the impression that I was crazy and would be watched (and possibly institutionalized). My depression, still unnamed, deepened as I grew older.

Similar childhood, different path.

[HarleyD]

What says the group?

Not Reformed but it's better than "Cardinal So-n-so speaks at latest conference [Catholic Caucus]".

I will say that I'm always hesitant about a person's "return to the church" when they quote philosophers and secular writers more than they quote (if any) the scriptures. I suppose we'll be seeing this person join the Catholic Church in a few years. ;O)

I hope they get grounded in the word.